Solar H-alpha features with hot onsets

Abstract

In H-alpha most of the solar surface is covered by a dense canopy of long opaque fibrils, but predictions for quiet-Sun observations with ALMA have ignored this fact. Comparison with Ly-alpha suggests that the large opacity of H-alpha fibrils is caused by hot precursor events. Application of a recipe that assumes momentary Saha-Boltzmann extinction during their hot onset to millimeter wavelengths suggests that ALMA will observe the H-alpha fibril canopy, not acoustic shocks underneath, and will yield data more interesting than if this canopy were transparent.